Tasmania unveils COVID-19 support package

26 March, 2020 by
Staff Writer

Screen Tasmania CEO Alex Sangston.

As part of the Tasmanian Government’s COVID-19 support package, new funding of $1.5 million and operational measures of over $2 million have been introduced to support the individuals and organisations in the cultural sector.

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The package has been designed to specifically address the challenges facing artists, screen practitioners and organisations.

In addition to this funding, the Tasmanian Government’s small business emergency supports grants program of $20 million will be established for initial emergency grant payments of $2,500 to business in a variety of industries including those in the arts sector who are suffering financial hardship.

Screen Tasmania is fast-tracking assessment of a number of applications in its current development round and has added an additional meeting of the Screen Tasmania Expert Advisory Group on April 3.

This meeting will consider some existing applications in project development, games development and production investment, which would otherwise have been waiting until July for a decision, but have been identified as having few – if any – impacts due to the current restrictions.

Screen Tasmania ordinarily provides project development support of 70 per cent on signature, 30 per cent on delivery. Effective immediately, that will be 90 per cent on signature, the balance on delivery.

Arts and Screen Digital Production Fund

To support screen practitioners, artists and arts organisations whose work has been cancelled, postponed or disrupted by COVID-19, grants of up to $10,000 for individuals and $50,000 for organisations are available to enable the arts and screen sectors to work together.

This funding will help artists to work with Tasmanian screen professionals to make content in Tasmania for digital distribution and promotion. Applications will open in the coming days.

Additional Screen Development Fund

To assist the Tasmanian screen industry both during and after the COVID-19 restrictions, an additional $250,000 is available through the Additional Screen Development Fund.

To provide an injection of funds into the Tasmanian screen industry to undertake work easily and safely during the emergency, additional grants are available for new projects through Screen Tasmania’s project development program. This will assist screen practitioners in developing projects for production once restrictions have eased.

To allow more people to be involved in development tasks, funding caps for the program have been increased to $30,000 for advanced stage development and short-form series booster, and $20,000 for intermediate stage development. Some 90 per cent of the funding will be delivered on signature of deeds.

Funding is also available through the existing Industry Development Program to provide for additional industry and professional development support to filmmakers and crews who are not able to work in production. Applications will open in the coming days.